Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
Colorado
Rolling out of Gunnison, we followed Highway 50 past the deep blue waters of Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado’s largest body of water and centerpiece of the Curecanti National Recreation Area. I would’ve loved to stay and camp a night—cast a line, watch the sunset ripple across the lake—but we still had two national parks to reach: Great Sand Dunes in Colorado and White Sands in New Mexico.
By the time we turned south toward Alamosa, the afternoon light stretched long across an empty horizon. We booked a Comfort Inn in town, a practical overnight in the San Luis Valley, and caught up on sleep before the dunes.
At sunrise, we reached the park entrance within an hour. A small general store just outside sold sand sled rentals and—they had a Passport Stamp, which I snagged immediately. After the obligatory photo at the entrance sign, we drove into a scene that felt like another planet: towering dunes rising 750 feet high, backed by the snow-tipped Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Wind sculpted ripples across the sand, and Kodi watched in fascination as the dunes seemed to shimmer and move.
We visited the campground but decided to skip Medano Pass Road—unpaved, rough, and exactly the kind of washboard track that might loosen Bessie’s sink again. Instead, we detoured to Zapata Falls, a short but adventurous hike: half a mile up a rocky trail, then a chilly hundred-yard wade through the creek to reach the hidden 30-foot waterfall.
By noon, the sun blazed overhead and the idea of driving another six or seven hours to White Sands lost its appeal. We pivoted—Alan’s favorite word—and headed for Taos, New Mexico instead. Lunch was a spontaneous feast of beef enchiladas at Martyrs Steakhouse, where every bite carried a hint of roasted chile and adventure.
Taos itself was vibrant and crowded—artists, travelers, adobe walls glowing in the sun—so after lunch we pressed on toward Raton, climbing through mountain curves painted with late-day light. It was one of those unexpectedly beautiful drives, the kind that reminds you why you chose the road over routine in the first place.
